OTTAWA — Three games don’t make a career in professional sports, when things can change so dramatically in a short amount of time. It will take many more weeks and numerous seasons of consistency before Antonio Pipkin can be proclaimed the Alouettes’ saviour.

But so far, he’s beginning to look like the best quarterback Montreal has had since the days of Anthony Calvillo.

The 23-year-old Pipkin, who was released earlier this season and has performed despite the constant presence of Johnny Manziel in the shadows, did it again Friday night, for the second consecutive game. And this time, he did it on the road.

Pipkin managed the game exquisitely, passing for 242 yards and scoring a touchdown on a short run in the third quarter — when the Als historically have struggled — leading Montreal to an improbable 21-11 victory over the Ottawa Redblacks.

Pipkin’s two interceptions, including one at the end of the first half when he and the offence should have played it conservatively, can be overlooked. Put it down to his relative inexperience. The blemishes never seem as prevalent when a team wins, after all.

“He played well. He’s got to keep getting better. I thought he made some good decisions for the most part. That’s what quarterbacks have to do,” Als head coach Mike Sherman said.

There’s no quarterback controversy on this team, and there won’t be as long as Pipkin continues playing well and the Als continue winning. This organization staked much of its future on Manziel when it acquired him in a July trade from Hamilton. But the worst thing that could have happened to Manziel was the concussion he suffered here on Aug. 11, forcing him to miss two games.

Manziel is healthy now and dressed for this game, but the Als have no choice but to continue riding Pipkin’s hot hand when the team returns from its bye week to host British Columbia on Sept. 14. There’s absolutely no reason to ask Sherman who the starting quarterback will be that night. It’s anticlimactic.

“I think you have a tough decision if you don’t have quarterbacks,” Sherman said.

When Pipkin wasn’t throwing — the game opened with a long bomb to Adarius Bowman, who was behind a defender and should have scored a touchdown but misjudged the ball’s flight — he was displaying his mobility, gaining 75 yards on nine carries.

And, for once, the Als actually won the statistical battle. Montreal had 22 first downs, 360 yards’ net offence and controlled the ball for 36:24.

“We won the game. I feel great,” said Pipkin, who remains a man of few words and continues to refuse to be singled out. “I played well enough for us to win.”

The Als are now 3-8 and remain last in the East Division with seven games remaining. A playoff spot, for now, still seems unlikely. But Pipkin has provided this team, for the first time since 2014, with optimism. There seems to be something infectious about him, and it’s rubbing off on his teammates.

The symmetry Pipkin has developed with receiver B.J. Cunningham is evident. Cunningham, the Als’ only 1,000-yard receiver in 2017, caught eight passes for 107 yards. Ernest Jackson, virtually invisible before Pipkin’s arrival, caught three for 80 yards, including a critical 50-yard reception in the fourth quarter that led to a crucial field goal — one of four by Boris Bede.

The receivers are going above and beyond the call of duty to make plays for Pipkin. This team, quite clearly, wants to play for him and believes in him.

“He’s a football player. He plays football, man, and I haven’t seen that in a while,” Cunningham said. “He’s doing his thing and I’m proud of him. He makes plays for us, on his feet, with his arm. This is exciting.

“We were locked-in today. We knew this was a must-win situation. Everything he put was on the money for us. We came down with it. That’s our job, to be playmakers. That’s the goal, to make plays for the quarterback. That’s what we did.

“We see he has the talent and he can play,” Cunningham added. “He’s poised. We have to keep this streak going. This season definitely can still be salvaged.”

And how about the Als’ much-maligned defence, thrown a curve before the game when weak-side linebacker Chris Ackie was a late scratch with a quad injury that flared up during the warmup.

The Als kept the Redblacks out of the end zone, something virtually unheard of in the CFL. This is a team that had scored 44, 24, and 41 points its last three games. Quarterback Trevor Harris had passed for 1,229 yards over that stretch. But Ottawa, coming off a bye in the schedule, looked sluggish and out of sync. Twice the Redblacks were inside the Montreal 10, yet could muster only one field goal while turning the ball over on downs.

“I think the defence played really good,” middle-linebacker Henoc Muamba said. “That’s one of the more-creative offences this league has to offer. They’re well balanced and have a lot of weapons. It seemed like we clicked today.

“Nothing has changed,” he added. “There’s going to come a point in time when things are going to start to turn. We’re just more in sync now. The scary thing is there’s more where that came from.”

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